Jack Mathew (Brazil)
Visited: September, 22nd, 02.
As
a part of my Wildlife tour to India, I got the opportunity to visit many
wildlife sanctuaries and park. The words are not enough to explicit my
eternal feeling in writing this travelogue that how much pleasure I have
derived while sighting the Royal Bengal Tiger, great Indian Elephant and
enormous variety of other species in their natural habitat. A real
rendezvous with these majestic creatures was a lifetime experience- so
imperial and so captivating.
I made a quick choice among the numerous wilds prevailing in India and
finally opted for Jim Corbett National Park in Uttranchal and Ranthambore
National Parks in Rajasthan. As I have booked a tour through a travel agent
so all hassles were theirs, I visited Jim Corbett National Park as my first
choice- a wild of all the stories written on the man-eaters of Kumaon.
After arriving Delhi, my booking was with a rail coach for Ramnagar, it
took app. 8 hrs to reach the town. As the train stated upwards towards the
hilly terrain, there was complete change in the scenic beauty, green
mountains embellished with Pine and Sal trees, the whole vista was submerged
in the pleasant fragrance of green vegetation.
It was an over night journey. Morning after 8-hours ride, the train reached
Ramnagar- quite a relaxing night as I enjoyed my sound sleep. I headed
towards my jungle resort in a tourist coach- quite a comfortable one with a
provision of hot water bath and fairly a good food.
A permit is required to visit the park- most essential, and can be availed
from the Project Tiger Office at Ramnagar, all these formalities were nicely
undertaken by my agent. Here I would like to mention that Jim Corbett
National Park is situated in the foothills of Central Himalayas in the state
of Uttranchal in north of India, that adds to the splendor besides its
diverse wildlife and rich flora. My guide told me the best way to view the
wildlife is through elephant safari due to its moderate rapidity, besides
tiger the forest is also a home to many other species like sloth bear,
sambhar, deer, jungle cat and numerous reptile and aerial population. As we
started our safari I sighted many carnivores and herbivores along with the
flock of birds near the ponds.
As we headed towards more dense forest, there was the
royal tiger luxuriating in the shade enjoying the view blue lake. It was
just a spectacular sight, watching this majestic beast in its full grandeur.
I was quite thrill to know that the Jim Corbett National Park comes under
the Project Tiger Scheme in the year 1973 since then the mission to protect
these highly endangered species is going on. After a daylong elephant safari
I returned to my jungle resort with some splendid memories.
Aghast by my face to face with tigers, I headed towards my next destination
to Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. I return to New Delhi to catch a
train for Sawai Madhour town, the nearest railway station from Ranthambore,
at the distance of 12km.
There my guide informed me that the park got the status of National Park in
1981, since then all measures are taken to protect the most endangered Royal
Bengal Tiger from poaching.
Ranthambore is more renowned world wide due to its highest density of tiger
population. With not much difficulty I could sight the tiger, amidst the dry
deciduous forest embellished with Pine Banyan and Dhok trees. I could
capture some of the magnificent moves of this gigantic mammal. It was really
sad fact that, we human are only responsible of bringing the tiger
population to the face of extinction.
I came to know that the wild is a home to almost 25 tigers, 40 leopards and
wide variety of bird population along with replies and amphibians. It was
worth watching the animals in their varied mood, some were bathing in the
waters while others were cooling off in the shades.
I also visited the famous Ranthambore Fort inside the park and the second
largest Banyan tree in India. The night camps are also organized inside the
park amidst the thousand stars in the sky along with bonfire. It was really
captivating sight and a wonderful experience to be in the park amongst the
wilds.
During my complete tour the guides aquatinted me with many facts with
respect to the tiger. India's treasure of wild life does not end in these
species rather it is a copious basin of ample fauna and flora.
